3 visuals for webpage

This code will help produce the three visuals that are going to be a part of each equity tracker indicator webpage: regional map (tract level) of most recent data, chart of the most recent data, chart of trends over time.

If the indicator is a PUMS/OPSI indicator that can be accessed through Elmer. Getting the data to a workable version may require some data transformation. To explore, clean, transform, and generate a final data set, please use the data-gen-pums-template. This script will generate an .rda for the map and an .rda for the charts. These data sets will be loaded in before the data visualization code.

Indicator Explanation

Education is associated with a wide range of benefits to both individuals and society. People with higher levels of education are more likely to find employment, remain employed, learn new skills on the job, and earn more over their working life relative to those with lower levels of education. For this measure, we are defining educational attainment as adults 25 years and older who have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

1. Map of most recent data

To map data in this form, it requires accessing data at the regional/tract level from ACS since the Elmer data set is already aggregated to equity group/quintile.

Create Visual

Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table S1501; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles



Data call outs

  1. 45%: Share of adults in the region 25 years and older who have a bachelor’s degree or higher
  2. 26%: Educational attainment of people in households with lower income is 26 percentage points lower than those in other households
  3. 3%: Educational attainment for white non-Hispanic people in the region is 3 percentage points higher than for people of color

Insights & Analysis

  • King County has the highest share of adults 25 years and older who have a bachelor’s degree or higher (55%), followed by Kitsap (35%), Snohomish (35%), and Pierce (29%).
  • Five census tracts with the highest educational attainment are all in King County neighborhoods: Laurelhurst (Seattle), Westlake (Seattle), Pike/Pine area of Capitol Hill (Seattle), Spring District/Bel-Red (Bellevue), and Northlake (Seattle).
  • The census tract with the highest educational attainment located outside of King County is in the Mill Creek area of Snohomish County (83%).
  • Educational attainment in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Seattle, the region’s highest (95%).
  • Educational attainment in a census tract in Monroe, Snohomish County, the region’s lowest (3%).



2. Facet of most recent data

Create Visual

Educational Attainment by Community

Percent of individuals 25 years or older with a Bachelor’s degree or higher

U.S. Census Bureau, 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample

Data call outs

Insights & Analysis

  • Snohomish County is the only county where people of color have a higher educational attainment than white non-Hispanic people, 39% vs. 34%.
  • Educational attainment is lower for people in households with lower income than those in other households for all counties; the gap is smallest in Pierce County (19 percentage points), followed by Kitsap and Snohomish Counties (21 percentage points), and King County (31 percentage points).
  • Educational attainment is lower for people with disabilities than those without in the region and King County is the only county with a larger gap (25 percentage points) than the region (21 percentage points).
  • Share of people in households with limited English proficiency who have a bachelor’s degree or higher is 32%, 14 percentage points lower than people in households proficient in English.
  • Educational attainment for people in households with limited English proficiency is 22 percentage points lower than people in households proficient in English in King County, the largest such gap in the region, while the smallest gap is in Snohomish County (five percentage points).

3. Facet of trend data

Create Visual

Educational Attainment Trend by Community

Percent of individuals 25 years or older with a Bachelor’s degree or higher, in 5-year spans between 2011 and 2021

U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample

Data call outs


Insights & Analysis

  • Regionally, educational attainment among people of color is lower (43%) than white non-Hispanic people (46%), a consistent gap in the last decade but one that is getting smaller.
  • In 2022, the difference in educational attainment between people in households with limited English proficiency and those who are in households proficient in English was 14%, a consistent gap in the last decade.
  • In 2022, people in households with lower income have lower educational attainment (23%) than people in other households (49%), a difference two percentage points larger than in 2011.
  • In Kitsap County, the share of adults 25 years or older with a bachelor’s degree or higher has decreased for people of color (by 5 percentage points) and white non-Hispanic people (by 3 percentage points) over the past decade. There was also a decrease of 6 percentage points among people of color in Pierce County.
  • The difference in educational attainment between people in households with lower income and those in other households has differed greatly over the past decade between counties: almost doubling in King County (+97%), decreasing in Kitsap County (-25%) and Pierce County (-5%), and slightly increasing in Snohomish County (+5%).
  • The difference in educational attainment between people with a disability and those without a disability between 2016 and 2021 stayed consistent in all counties - between 1-2%.



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